Ein Kerem

My first day back at the center, and what can you expect? I went out into the city. I wanted to get a little more homework done then I actually did, but I am paying for it now that I have to stay up late to get it done. (Left - The Rockefeller Museum). Oh well, it was a fun day.
This morning wasn't as much fun because it was spent trying to find something to do. I decided that I wanted to go to the Rockefeller Museum, but I had a hard time finding people to go with me. I finally found Megan who wanted to go, but we needed a third person. I went and asked everyone I could find. No one wanted to go. I was headed back to Megan's to tell her that I couldn't find a third person when I saw a couple of people standing in a doorway. I decided to ask, knowing that they wouldn't want to go. I'm glad I did, because one of them asked their roommates if they would want to go, and Elizabeth did! We had our third person! We left about 20 minutes later. We had to work out meeting arrangements because Megan wanted to go with a different group in the afternoon than Elizabeth and me. (Right - Damascus Gate. I always think that this gate looks like the entrance to a castle). I also had to get the museum cards so we could get in.
We walked into the city and went to the Rockefeller Museum. It was a lot larger than I was expecting. They also had some really interesting pieces. It was nice because I knew a lot about what they had on display. It was cool to read a plaque and have it say Jerash, Jericho, or other cities and be able to say, I went there! It was great. We were there for about 2 hours before we headed out. We went in Damascus Gate and to our favorite falafel place for lunch. (Left - the stain glass window for the tribe of Joseph). We each got a falafel and candy before going out to find a place to sit. We still had a couple of hours before we were to meet up with our groups, so we stopped at Aladdin's and then went to Omar's. At Omar's I broke down and bought an olive wood nativity set. It was beautiful, but expensive. Oh well, I think I would regret not getting it. As Brother Seely says, What you regret is what you DON'T buy. I don't think that is completely true because I sometimes regret buying things, but I don't think that will happen in this case. (Right - St. John the Baptist's Church).
We made it with enough time to go looking for a falafel maker. We each got one of those. I'm excited because now I can make my own falafel when I get home! (If I find a good recipe). We met our groups and Megan went on her way. We waited for our taxi to pick us up. We had to squeeze into the taxi because we had 15 people all together. Our taxi driver didn't speak English so we had quite a task of communicating where we wanted to go. We drove all the way across the city, over the western mountains to Ein Kerem. Ein Kerem is the birthplace of John the Baptist. There we went to the hospital where they have Chagal windows. Chagal is a famous artist who painted 12 stained-glass windows, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. (Left - Mary's Spring). We made it just in time for the English presentation. That was very interesting.
Next we drove to St. John the Baptist's Church, commemorating his birth. That was really interesting. We were able to sing a couple of hymns there and then we went outside and read the story of his birth/naming. We wanted to go to the Sisters of Zion Convent, so we headed down, buying ice cream on the way that was really good. When we arrived at the convent, we were too late. They were closed and wouldn't let us in even for 10 minutes. We were a little disappointed, but we went for a walk and ended up finding a place called Mary's Spring. That is traditionally the site where Elizabeth met Mary when she came to visit. (Right - Ein Kerem). We had just enough time to go to our meeting spot to drive back to the center.
When we arrived at the center, security was already letting people in for the night's concert. I guess it is a really big one. Anyway, when we came in, a man talked to me in Hebrew. I think he was asking to see my ticket. I told him, "We're students." We walked past, but I think it caused a lot of confusion for them. It was actually rather amusing.

Bahai and Caesarea Maritima

I'm back! I finally am back at the center! It has been a long couple of weeks. I'm so glad not to be living out of a suitcase anymore and I'm so glad to have clean clothing! (Right - Our tiny hotel room with our cramped space). But that is a different story. So, before I tell about my day today, I wanted to let you know that I have posts for the days since Easter, but it will probably take me awhile to get them posted because of adding pictures, but I will try to be faster about that than I have been.
Anyway, today was a pretty good day. I have to admit that I was pretty beat the entire day. 11 days of travel really begins to wear on you after awhile. (Left - The Baha'u'llah. I'm not really sure what these buildings are, though I think the one on the right is the place where the leader lived and the one on the right is the tomb). It didn't help that we didn't have the nicest accommodations. It definitely could have been worse, but our room was tiny and rather cramped with four girls stuffed into a room made for two. (Right - I am sitting in front of the Bahai chapel, I believe it is called the Hall of Reason). They squeezed an extra bed in and then set up a cot for the fourth girl. Our room actually got cold last night so we didn't sleep as well. (Left - The Bahai Gardens in Haifa). But, despite that, it was nice to be able to sleep in until 7:00. Breakfast was actually pretty good, too, so that was also nice.
We got out on the road and headed first for Baha'u'llah. That is a garden set up by the Bahai people. I don't know how much you know about that group of people, but it is a religion that is basically an offshoot of Islam. They claim to be the fulfillment of all religions and they accept almost all prophets of other religions. (Right - Roman Aqueduct near the Mediterranean Sea). There are a couple of exceptions (including Joseph Smith). Anyway, they preach peace and reason. I'd never heard of them before, so it was interesting to learn about them. They have about 18 million members world wide. The gardens were beautiful and very peaceful. We were going to go to the Bahai Gardens in Haifa, but it didn't work out. (Left - Caesarea Maritima). Instead, on our way down the coast, we stopped and took pictures from the outside. It was very beautiful and I wish we could have gone in, but at least we got to go to the Baha'u'llah.
Our next stop was supposed to be the Templar Cemetery, but our bus driver got lost and so we missed it. Instead we stopped on the beach and ate lunch. (Right - Mediterranean Sea). It was nice to play in the Mediterranean Sea. We also saw some ancient Roman aqueducts.
Our final stop of the day was Caesarea Maritima. That is a city built by Herod the Great in honor of Augustus Caesar. He built a large artificial port, a theater, an amphitheater, a hippodrome, and a palace. The city plays a prominant role in the history of Christianity. Pontius Pilate lived there. It is very likely that Paul passed through the port. It was really cool. We had a nice relaxing time there before we got on the bus and headed back to the center.

Nazareth and Akko

One last time, getting our key to be able
to enter our little apartment.

We missed our time to go to the Bahai Gardens this morning, so our itinerary had to be completely rearranged. We went to Kursi National Park instead. There Brother Draper taught about the man possessed with a Legion of devils that were cast into a herd of swine. While we were sitting there, a poor cat came in with a broken back. It could hardly walk. It couldn't control it's bladder at all, either. I think it must be paralyzed from the waste down. People were making fun of it. I wish there was something I could do to help that poor thing, but there is nothing I can do. It made me cry to see the poor thing (literally), and it made me feel a little sick. I don't think that kind of injury was an accident.

We next went to Korazim, one of the three cities that the Savior cursed. It was in ruins, of course. There was an interesting synagogue there and houses. I gathered some pottery pieces, but I stayed mainly to myself, still recovering from Kursi.

Kursi National Park entrance

Our next stop was Nazareth. We drove through Cana and on to the Church of the Annunciation. That was really cool and very beautiful. They have pictures of Mary donated from all over the world. Through a courtyard we reached St. Joseph's Church, dedicated to Joseph, the husband of Mary and mortal father of Jesus. That was nice, too.

After that I went with Sadie, Jared, and Danny to see the Synagogue Church, dedicated to the Savior's announcing of his divinity in a Synagogue. It may have taken place there. Next we went to the Anglican Church. That was also very beautiful.

Cat with broken spine

We had a little time before we could get in to the museum under the court between the Church of the Annunciation and St. Joseph's Church. We looked around and then hurried back. Brother Seely covered our entrance fee of 5NIS. We didn't have much time, but the place was tiny. We really went to see the Romanesque capitals that, because of defeat by the Muslims, never made it into the church.

Then we hurried back to the bus. We drove to Akko. That took a little while. When we arrived, we went into the citadel. Oh, on the bus ride, I sang back up to How Much is that Doggy in the Window along with Lindsay, Chris, and Lisa with Heather singing the main part. It was fun.

Cat trying to walk

In the citadel, we all crashed on the lawn before going in to watch a movie. Then we went around and inside an actual crusader building. It was cool. The only bad thing is that there was a cat and Danny picked it up by the neck. I was horrified! He said he didn't hurt it, but I have to wonder what his purpose was in doing that. He tried to do it second time and I told him off. At least he listened to me.  Here, I think I should mention that I don't consider myself to be a cat person, even though I have a cat.  I am an animal lover.  I feel that every living thing deserves to be treated with love and respect, whether human or not.

Megan and Bethany trying to cheer
me up while I was crying for the cat.

We walked through a market to get to the El Jazeer Mosque. That was cool. We saw a man and a woman praying together, which is unusual. Then we continued on and went through a place that would have been used as an inn. Finally we walked along the sea. That was awesome. I saw a door to a church. The Franciscan symbol was above it.

From there we went to our hotel here. It is tiny. Lauran is sleeping on a cot and the shower is just on the floor. The food was definitely a disappointment after Ein Gev. Oh well. After dinner, I walked down to the sea and sat and talked. When I came back, I went to a girls' movie night. We watched Music and Lyrics. It was a lot of fun. I'm so tired!

Kursi

Kursi National Park

Korazim

Korazim Synagogue

Brother Draper expounding the scriptures

I'm sure this synagogue was breath taking when it was
not in ruins

In Nazareth!

The Church of the Annunciation

Closer up to the Church of the Annuciation

Inside the Church of the Annunciation

They still have some of the original building visible

The Church of St Joseph

Outside of the Church of St. Joseph

Inside the Church of St Joseph

Me and Aimee

The Synagogue Church

Inside the Synagogue Church

The road to Akko

The Acre Citadel

Inside the Citadel, there are these amazing arched ceilings

More arches

Me, Jeff, and Lisa in an arched hallway

Entrance to the market

Me and Claire in front of El Jazeer Mosque

Inside the Mosque

Around Akko

What a lovely courtyard!

View of the Mediterranean Sea

Door to a Franciscan church

Our tiny room . . .

Looks like you can literally shower while you
are on the toilet!!

Outside our hotel